


Everyone needs a little care

by imicike



Category: Phandom/The Fantastic Foursome (YouTube RPF)
Genre: Fluff, M/M, Mentions of Cancer, Minor Character Death
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2016-02-02
Updated: 2016-02-02
Packaged: 2018-05-17 19:44:53
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,390
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5883214
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/imicike/pseuds/imicike
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Phil moves to London to start  over with his 3 year old son.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Everyone needs a little care

**Author's Note:**

> Warning real places.

_**Part One: Meeting the teacher** _

  
**2013 March 29, Richmond, London, UK**

  
Kids were running around in the courtyard. The swings were full with squealing and giggling. This was a normal day at Richmond Day Nursery.

  
Being a kindergarten teacher is usually for women, but here we are at Richmond Day Nursery, where Dan Howell works for over a year now. Currently he is the only male teacher at RDN, but when he started there was another slightly older guy, Georgy, who is now home on maternity leave because his wife earns more than him. Georgy is a nice guy, and to be honest, a better stay at home parent that Emilia ever could be. She works in IT and has little idea about any human interaction, let alone children. But let's not go there.

Dan is a 22 year old, and has great love and passion for children. He tried his hand at law, but it was not for him and after a certain incident he decided on becoming a teacher for young.

_**Star of memory 2010, Manchester (the certain incident)** _

  
Dan just finished his first year at he university and he was burned out and felt drained. He sat down at a bench in the nearest park to his student dormitory staring into space. He was almost 19, but already felt his energy for studying was on it's end.

  
It was a beautiful day. The park was full with people of all ages. A group of eleven, 3 or 4 year old, children dressed in cute little uniforms marched down the alleyway in the park after a middle aged teacher holding hands and murmuring to each other.  
All of them were paired up except for one trailing behind the others thumb in his mouth. His other hand was holding onto the ribbon that every child did, connecting them to the teacher. He stumbled and fell down right in front of Dan.

Before he started wailing, Dan was already on his knees hoisting him up and putting him on his feet.

"There, there little man, nothing happened." he tried to soothe the four year old "Big and strong boys like you don't get hurt from such a little bump."

The child looked at him with slightly wet eyes, but did not cry, cracking a small smile at being called big and strong. By then the teacher and the rest of the children were around them watching the events fold out.

"Thank you for helping, Jonathan up." said the teacher "You seem like a natural with children."

Dan blushed and stammer out a "No problem!"

"You would be a good teacher the way you handled the oncoming disaster." continued the teacher.

"No, it`s just I have a younger brother, so..." he trailed of blushing even harder.

After the goodbye's from the teacher and the children Dan sat back on the bench and contemplated the suggestion. Maybe he should become a nursery/pre-school teacher. He loves children and the work hours are shorter and less stressful that a lawyer, although it pays less. But it had long vacations.

_**End of memory** _

Not long after he dropped out of the University. Moved back home to Wokingham. Singed up for a one year post graduate course (PGDE) to become a nursery teacher and moved to London after finishing his studies.

Ever since then he worked at Richmond Day Nursery. The children loved him, often comparing him to Winnie the Pooh or Christopher Robin, to his chagrin.

Monday his little group of students will increase by one. According to the principle, a boy aged 31 months old, will join his class, one Zachery Alexander Lester. He just hoped there wont be any separation problems. New starters usually had a hard time letting go of their mummies and in some cases the mothers clung to their babies too hard. Oh well, he will cross that bridge when he gets there.

The bell rung signaling lunchtime. At Richmond Day Nursery the schedule was for all day. It opened at 7:00 and it closed at 17:30. Various children would arrive and leave at different times depending on their parents schedule. At noon it was time for lunch, which was provided by the school and from 13:00 to 15:00 it was nap time.  
Because the nursery accepted children between 6 months and 5 year old children were divided into age groups. There were a lot more toddler and baby groups, because younger kids needed more attention. There was one 4 and one 5 year old group who had special lessons on reading and counting. The nursery wasn't big. In total it had 51 children, 10 teachers, 1 cleaning lady and the principal, who was also the nurse to treat small injures.

Dan fit in into this little group just perfectly. He was the youngest, so he often got teased by his colleagues about finding someone and settling down. He did not mind too much. It just got too annoying during the Christmas holidays.

Dan had five kids in his group of 3 year old, 3 girls and 2 boys. This last one would even it out nicely. He usually got the shyer, more reserved children, because he was able to coax out their playfulness.

_**Part Two: Meeting the parent** _

  
_**2013 March 22, London, UK** _

  
London is a great city with even greater opportunists. It is also a good place for a new start, but it is the worst place to find a nursery school near your new home. Phil just decided this great step two weeks ago. And, to be honest it wasn't even his own decision. His friends and family thought it would do him good a change in scenery.

So here he was in London trying to find a new home for himself and his son. He only had a few demands, but not many places lived up to them. He visited 10 places and none of them were what he wanted.

He needed something with at least two bedrooms, a garden would be preferable, but not a necessity, a nearby park/playground would also do. It should be in a family friendly neighborhood, but not to far away from the center of the city or his new job. He would like to keep commuting under 40 minutes, because he wanted to spend as much time with his son as possible.

Next would be place No. eleven in Richmond, one of the suburban areas in London. From the pictures he has seen it should be adequate at least. Getting there was easy and the landlord was waiting for him with the keys. It was a typical two story terraced house with a big kitchen and living room, bathroom and the loo on the ground floor, 2 bedrooms and office/guestroom on the first floor. At the back, thought the kitchen, there was a small garden and a patio.

'This is it' Phil thought 'This would be just perfect for us, and the train station is not even that far away from here.'

He informed the landlord, that he will take it and was informed that he cam move in next week. it took them one more hour to make and sing the contract (the landlord forgot to make it so...). He just needed a daycare now. Looking at his watch he decided that he still had enough time to walk around in the neighborhood a bit.

It was a pleasant neighborhood. Perfect for raising children. He stumbled upon Richmond park and decided to take a look. The park was enormous with green fields and trees everywhere. This environment made him think of happy times from before. Sunk into his thoughts he stopped in the middle of the path. A sudden collision of small body with the back of his leg brought him back to reality.

Turning around he found a small blond girl looking up to him with wet eyes and a trembling mouth ready to start waling at any moment. He crouched down to help up the toddler.

"Darcy, have I not told you a thousand times not to run from me." came the out of breath mother. She had long blond hair with pink tips. She was tall although a bit round, but quite pleasant in ensemble.

"I am so sorry that my daughter run into your leg." she apologized immediately, picking her crying 3 year old up.

"No need to apologize. I am sorry for just standing in the way." British people and their apologies... " I have a son around the same age as your daughter, so know how energetic they are after starting to run by themselves." Phil smiled at the pair

"Oh! How old is he? My Darcy is 34 months old. She is a bit shy with new people." babbled on the mother happily about her baby "Oh, how rude of me. My name is Louise Pentland-Watson."

"Philip Lester, but just call me Phil. My son, Zach is 31 months old." Phil answered with a found smile playing on his face.

"Do you live around here Phil?" Louise answered shifting Darcy around in her arms.

"I will be from next week. I just finished the paperwork of renting a house here and I thought, I should look around and maybe find a nursery in the neighborhood."

"You could try Darcy's nursery, we just came from there. It is on Queen's road, near to this park's Northern entrance. I could show it to you right now. I think we forgot Darcy's coat at the nursery again."

"Thank you Louise, that might help a lot." Phil was extremely relived and happy that he met Louise and that he might be able to solve all this in one day.

In no time they were at the nursery. Phil could hear the renaming children run around in the back of the building. Louise pointed the principals office out to him, then saying goodbye went to find her daughters coat, Darcy trailing after her lie a little duckling. 

After knocking and getting permission he entered the office. At the desk sat a grizzled woman in her early 50's. She wore a colorful, yet comfortable outfit, showing that she too still looked after the children and didn't want to ruin a more expensive dress.

"How may I help you sir?" her voice was mild but full with authority

"My name is Phil Lester. A friend, Louise Pentland, recommended your nursery. I will be moving to Richmond next week with my 3 year old son and I was wondering if you had any free places still." Phil started nervously "I know this is not the usual time for starting a school, but I just got transferred from Manchester to London, and... " he trailed off bushing a bit at his rambling.

"Indeed, Mr Lester, it is an unusual time, but you are fortunate. Two of our students just moved away last month so we have one place left."

"Thank you! You don't know how much easier you made our move." Phil said beaming at the principal. He felt he has accomplished quite a lot in this one day. 

"Do you have any papers on you? If so we could resolve the paperwork now." asked Mrs. Miller "In any case welcome to Richmond Nursery. My name is Julia Millers, the principal and nurse of this establishment."

"I don't have any of the pares here, but I can already fill it out the necessary forms and if it's good I can email or fax you the copies tomorrow." said Phil hastily. 

"Maybe you could phone your wife now to fax or email the copies now?" asked Mrs Miller wanting to finish with that part of paperwork. Phil's excitement drained of him at that moment.

"I... uhm... I am a widower ... My wife died last year... cancer... but I could ask my mother, she is looking after my son at the moment." 

"I am so sorry for your loss Mr. Lester." perplexed the principal hadn't expected this.

"Thank you." Phil tried to smile but it was a grimace " I... uhm... If you will excuse me I will step out to call my mother fort the birth certificate copy to be sent over to your email address. "

"Yes, of course, here is the email address."

A short phone call and 10 minutes of wait which was spent by Phil filling out the necessary forms for the enrollment. After everything was settled and Phil got the tuition fee covered, they shook hands and Phil hurried to the station to get home. 

_**Part three:Every first day is hard** _

**2013 March 28, Phil's new house, Richmond, London**

The move was hard and tiring, but he had friend who helped him relentlessly. Chris and PJ were great help not just with the moving but in his grieving too. They were the ones who convinced him to move to London. He needed change. He needed to let go of his ghost and to live for himself or at least for his son. Now one week after moving in everything was finally out of the boxes.

His new house looked cozy and lived in, bright colors and toys everywhere. Two days ago his parents brought Zach to Richmond and inspected and deemed his work good and child friendly. 

On their first afternoon in the park they run into Louise again. While their kids played together running around, they had a nice chat getting to know each other better. He found out that Louse was a Youtuber just like him used to be before he got married, although a lot more famous than he ever was. She also knew Chris and Pj.

"You know, you should start filming again. It would take your mind of other things. Maybe we could even film a colab together to ease you back into the community and to introduce your son." suggested Louise when they were heading home.

"Yeah! That would be great." he sounded half enthusiastic

"Don't be so happy about it. " teased Louise, elbowing him in the ribs "Anyways see you on Monday at the Nursery. Bye you two darlings."

With a shy bye from Darcy the went in separate directions from the entrance of the park.

**2013 April 1st**

The weekend was short and Zach was slowly getting used to his new room. Not that it mattered. He still run to his daddy's room every night after being put into bed and tucked in. He still refused to eat his peas and he still took his sock off minutes after Phil put them back on him. Nothing new there. 

It was Monday morning now. Time for the first day at the nursery for Zack and the first day of work for Phil at Pinewood post production and editing department. Phil was nervously steering his cereals instead of his coffee while Zach was feeding himself happily.

"Daddy you are silly." laugh Zach when Phil drunk from his coffee the promptly spit it out because he put salt into it instead of sugar.

"Yeah, your daddy is a silly goose." said Phil picking Zach of his highchair and putting him on the ground. He then cleaned away the remains of the breakfast. By the time he was ready Zach has already put his jacket on, but he was bare foot again.

Exasperated he put the socks and shoos back on his son. Finally they were ready to start the new week. It took them 10 minutes to walk to the nursery. The entrance was full with parents and their offspring. Louise was standing to the side chatting with another mum while Darcy showed of her new pink tutu. Seeing Phil she waved at them while saying her good byes to her talking partner.

"There you are!" she said in a cheery voice "I've been waiting for you. Lets go greet Mrs. Miller and then I will introduce you to the nursery teacher. Come on my darlings"

A quick "Good morning." and "Welcome" later they were on the way to room 5, Zach and Darcy's classroom. Darcy got loos from her mother's grip and run to hug her teacher's leg. To Phil's surprise it was a really tall and young man with brown hair and on closer inspection chocolate brown eyes. He looked like a tall lost child with his cheery smile and happy disposition.

"Hello there Darcy, you caught me. Now why don't you go and hang up your coat then come back to say by to your mummy?" said the teacher in a light and caring voice.

Phil and Zach stood behind Louise still in the door. Inside 5 children where already talking to each other happily about  their weekend adventures. The teacher looked at them and smiled.

"Hi Louise!" he greeted the blond in his usual way "Why don't you introduce me to these two lovely gentlemen you brought with you today."

"Of course, that why I am here Dan. Hi! " Louise punched him lightly in the arm "Your new student Zachery Alexander Lester and his lovely father Phil Lester." said the blond dramatically turning to the pair in the door. "This is our humble teacher Daniel Howell."

"Oh my god, you are AmazingPhil." squeaked Dan "Oh... I mean... I am sorry... That is, my name is Phil... I mean Dan." turning to Louise he mouthed please kill me now.

"Nice to meet you Dan." Phil smiled and let out a giggle at the awkward meeting. " This is my son Zach. Say hello Zach." looking at his son who was looking up wide eyed at Dan pulling gently at his daddy's arm for him to crouch down so he could tell him his discovery.

"Daddy my teacher is Christopher Robin." With that Louise and Phil burst out laughing while Dan tried not to die of embarrassment.

"That he does Zach, that he does." said Louise who knew this was not the first time it happened.

Pulling his self together, Dan crouched down in front of the boy "Nice to meet you Zach. I am Mr. Dan your teacher." greeting him "Let me show you and your daddy where you can hang your jacket and where to put your bag."

"I am going to go now guys. Have fun today." said Louise

"You too, have a good time filming. Bye" said Dan

"Bye." waved Phil following Dan and his son the the back of the classroom.

Phil zoned out while watching his son getting captivated by his teachers childish charms and huggable character. He had no doubt that Zach will have  a great time here and will make lots of friends with the other children.

"Daddy you can go now." said Zach dismissively "I want to play with Mr. Dan and Darcy now."

Blinking at the blatant dismissal Phil froze in place. His baby boy just sent him away without a bye. This has never happened before and certainly not so fast.

"Do you really want daddy to go?"

"Yes. But you can come later and play with us."

"Why don't you say good bye to your daddy properly and go play with Darcy while I ask your daddy some questions."

Zach run to his dad hugging him quickly than running to where Darcy was listening to the other kids stories with a sideways bye.

"I am sorry Mr. Lester but I need to confer some things with you."

"Sure. You can call me Phil." the walked back to the door. A short discussion about Zach's likes and dislikes in snacks and other habits they finished all the formalities. 

"Thank you for taking time to answer my questions Phil."

"No problem. Anything for a long lost fan." Phil teased

"Urgh. You are never going to forget that. Are you?"

"Nope, not a chance." grinned Phil, than glaceing to the clock he continued "I have to go now if I want to catch the train."

"Um, sure. Have a good day. And don't forget that the school closes at 6 pm." waved Dan after the retreating man

"Sure. Thanks. Bye Christopher Robin."

Phil heard another groaning sound before it was drowned out by the noises of the nursery. ' _Maybe it wasn't such a bad idea to move here after all_ ' he thought on his way to work.

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!
> 
> I am searching for a beta to improve this work.


End file.
